(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a complete body assembling apparatus for various vehicle models. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus for assembling a front panel, side panels, a back panel, and a roof panel in a complete body assembly line.
(b) Background Art
In general, a large number of vehicle parts are assembled through assembling and welding processes in mass-production lines in the course of manufacturing vehicles. In particular, a vehicle body is manufactured by assembling body panels produced through press processes, and floors, doors, trunk lids, hoods, and fenders are mounted to the body to be assembled.
Nowadays, vehicle manufactures employ a system for various vehicle models that enables flexible adaptation to changes in the bodies for the various vehicle models. Such a system is adapted to feed body panels and parts to assembly processes corresponding to a corresponding vehicle model to achieve automation of the processes.
Meanwhile, there is a process called a “main buck” in many processes of a body assembly line, and various panels, such as side panels, floor panels, front panels, and back panels, which are produced in sub-processes, are welded in the main buck process to form the shape of a vehicle.
For example, side panels and roof panels for various vehicle models are sequentially fed to a main buck process through top bogies or hangers according to the order of the vehicles, and lower floor panels are supplied to the main buck process through bogies or shuttles according to the order of the vehicles. Then, a jig, such as a rotary jig which can be rotated to three sides, serves to clamp and couple the panels supplied to the main buck process.
As shown in FIG. 1, in a complete body line for vehicles (e.g., commercial vehicles, such as truck cabs), a front panel 100a, two side panels 100b, a back panel 100c, and a roof panel 100d are assembled to produce three different models of vehicles through a three-surfaced buck.
As shown in FIG. 2, for example, after panel parts 100 are loaded, a rotating body 110 rotates and moves forward, and after a gate 120 moves forward, a robot performs welding in working regions. After the welding is completed, the gates 120 move backward to take a waiting posture to load the following model vehicle.
However, the equipment for producing three different models of vehicles with three different side bucks in a conventional complete body line for commercial vehicles has the following disadvantages. First, the equipment is not sufficient to produce various vehicle models. Second, due to the complexity of a jig, it is difficult to perform this type of welding via a robot. Third, the system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is very large and thus requires a large space to operate. Fourth, due to the presence of many disorder-causing factors, a line operation rate is much lower than most automotive manufactures would like. Fifth, a very large rotating body is formed as an integrated body and thus its structure is very complex.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.